Now I'm wondering... how exactly the hell do some manga go over 50 volumes? o_O

Jesus Christ, the manga author must be half-dead from constant sleepless nights doing just one manga for that long.
Good example is Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. 60+ volumes, holy crap. o.o
(NOOOO!!!! I'm only on volume 4... ;-; )

Anyway, this thread was made to see the pros and cons of long-running manga, as well as your opinions on them.

Personally, it's pretty bad to get into a new series and find out there's over 50 volumes out already. Kinda makes you feel way behind...~

Not only that, but it discourages translators who may want to translate that manga to the U.S. if there are so many volumes to translate, which means they'll be working on the same project for a LOOOOONG time (since releases on new manga can be very slow in the U.S.).

Long manga also have crappier stories as time goes on, and sometimes rehash previous things that already happened.

Although long manga do help the author expand the world more, and may sometimes be very deep into characters by the time they've gone that far.

BattleFranky~40

17th December 2006, 6:17 AM

60 volumes? Pft, Araki is a pushover. Akimoto has been going for 30 years and over 150 volumes.

Sachiko

17th December 2006, 3:23 PM

One Piece is getting to 50 volumes... And I am on 12. AAH!!!

But... you think it's tough when you read a manga and find out it has 50 volumes??? Try finding out your manga has 5. Or 4. I don't like short manga. You are right- a longer manga goes deeper into its characters. I believe that's really important.

I wanna draw a manga, and when I do... it will be extremely long...

JoJo's has 80+ volumes!! And I went to s-manga.net boy's and saw a manga with like 152 volumes. I was seriously shocked.

Many people (including myself) still find One Piece to be pretty fresh, even after 40 volumes and 400 chapters. If the story is long but doesn't really feel like it's dragging then it should continue (although it might be intimidating to just start collecting volumes knowing that it has that many, but oh well).

Kez

19th December 2006, 12:55 AM

Well, I personally prefer long mangas, because we get to see more of the world that it is set in, and the characters can have a lot of character development.

I agree that One Piece still seems fresh, and I think that having so many unanswered questions in the series makes it more intriguing towards readers.

Sachiko

19th December 2006, 1:07 AM

Well, I personally prefer long mangas, because we get to see more of the world that it is set in, and the characters can have a lot of character development.

YES!!! That's SO true!!! Shorter ones... don't have that kind of impact on you. At least, most don't. And when a manga is long, you are very familiar with it, and you know the characters so much they feel like your friends (because you know so much about them.).

Kochikame (or Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo) has over 150 volumes, and has been around since 76. Golgo 13 has 138 volumes and has been around since 69.

Satoshi

19th December 2006, 4:12 AM

Well, I personally prefer long mangas, because we get to see more of the world that it is set in, and the characters can have a lot of character development.Not always true. While it is true that longer manga have a slighter chance of developing all their characters, it's usually spread out to each character in mainstream shounen genres (most usually ignore a character for a good ammount of time, making the character sort of stale - which is mostly the writers fault if they can't make decent developement for their own story). Shorter manga (usually 4 - 5 volumes-ish, with a continuous story) usually ties in alot of events with all of the characters (due to them being well...short) and give alot of the characters spotlight most of the time. Although that's not true with all short manga, longer manga can go on forever without giving alot of supporting characters developement - or slaughter the story. Character developement's good and all, but they can't live without a story.

I love long manga, however, the sequence of events (exposition, rising action climax, resolution) have a chance of being slightly unbalanced.

BattleFranky~40

19th December 2006, 4:20 AM

Basically, if the writers actually try, it is beneficial for a manga to be longer, as it gives them more time to do things.

But as you've said, most artists (Hello, Kishimoto), don't bother to actually expand on the various aspects of the manga, such as the world and the characters that live in it.

That Scary Clefairy

19th December 2006, 6:09 AM

long manga can be interesting like Golgo 13 which is usually not continious. on chapter has nothing to do witht he other. Basically they are episodic

same with Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo

Galatica Phantom

19th December 2006, 4:11 PM

Detective Conan aka Case Closed.

I don't know, but I think it has like 56 volumes and going.

Super-Staff

20th December 2006, 5:20 AM

Kochikame (or Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo) has over 150 volumes, and has been around since 76.

I wonder... Is Kochikame actually a manga that's still a good read nowadays, even with it's numerous volumes or did it go sour at one point? Does anyone know? :O

BattleFranky~40

20th December 2006, 5:44 AM

I wonder... Is Kochikame actually a manga that's still a good read nowadays, even with it's numerous volumes or did it go sour at one point? Does anyone know? :O

Clefairy has read it, and I'd like to try and find it as well.

The things is, like Golgo 13, it is pretty much "episodic", so as long as there are possible comedic situations, Akimoto won't run out of material.

That Scary Clefairy

20th December 2006, 6:51 AM

Kochikame is long but probably difficult to understand as it has heavy rooted japanese culture in it. Not Bo^7 way. It is funny though and has some good comdic laugh.

BTW franky, i saw in you image collection the SJ artist drawing with Ryou as dedication to Akimoto. something special with him happen?

HK

21st December 2006, 2:48 AM

I don't particularly care if a manga is long-running or nut, just if it has enough merit to back it up. Generally I don't like long comedies, though Cromartie High School is an exception (hell, that finally stopped in Japan at eighteen volumes this year). Some type of epic, though, like Vagabond I can appreciate and even love to death since I love it when methodical pacing is used brilliantly.

Well, I personally prefer long mangas, because... the characters can have a lot of character development.

Blue has more substantial and realistic character development in its single volume than Naruto has in its 33+ volumes.